Dress
The traditional dress is still alive in Turkmenistan, in part because of former President Saparmurat Niyazov, who re-introduced numerous historic cultural elements to the people since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. This dress, which can still be seen in many towns and at traditional events, includes a long dress for women, simple white shirts for men and the famous telpek hat for men. This dress for women tends to be loose-fitting, typically in red, with a great amount of ornamentation on the front, including stones, beads, and other decorational items. The men tend to wear simpler outfits, which are long robe-like clothes, but their tall black sheepskin hats make them unmistakably Turkmen.
Today much of this traditional dress thrives, but some not so traditional, or newly traditional items have been added to the dress and appearance of the people. The local men must not wear beards or have long hair and today most men wear western clothing, but still wear the telpek. Likewise, women also have dress "recommendations," especially girls, who should wear braided hair and a traditional Turkmen hat. These rules came from President Niyazov's ideas of what an ideal Turkmen should look like.
Fortunately, foreigners don't have to wear these traditional items and the people are friendly enough to use this differentiation in dress to welcome foreigners to their country. Because of this, and few conservative Muslims, Turkmenistan has few dress restrictions for the tourist. Although shorts and short-sleeved shirts are not common in Turkmenistan, there is no cultural or religious reason for this so wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts is acceptable, although you may get some strange looks. Only the most devout Muslim women cover their hair for religious purposes and this is a rarity in Turkmenistan today.